Time to tighten reins on Big Brother

The Fourth Amendment to the Constitution - the one that protects people against unreasonable searches - already is in tatters, yet authorities continue to find ways to render it impotent.

Recent revelations about the NSA surveillance program and the New York Police Department's long-standing stop-and-frisk program, which recently was halted by a federal judge because of abuses in the execution of the policy, have rightly raised new concerns about the erosion of personal privacy and civil liberties once taken for granted. It's long been said that people who give up freedom for security lose both in the end. We're well on our way.

The latest Orwellian assault on the right to go freely about our business soon will be in effect at the Freehold Raceway Mall. License plate readers that record the plates of every car that enters and leaves the mall have been installed over its entrances and exits, purportedly as a counterterrorism measure.

This is a bad idea for all kinds of reasons. Mall management should send the license plate readers packing. And the Freehold Township Committee should reverse its decision to allow them in the first place. At the very least, until such time as the devices are removed, the mall should be required to post signs stating that, "If you use our parking lots, your license plates will be scanned and (information) maintained." That way, you at least have a choice to decide whether you want to subject yourself to that kind of surveillance.

Our list of concerns is long. For starters, we're uncomfortable with any technology that is used to cast a wide net over innocent people on the chance of snaring one who has done something wrong, particularly when it is on private property. "Reasonable suspicion" should be the test for any sort of intrusive surveillance.

The rationale for using the readers at Raceway Mall is anti-terrorism. Sorry, we're not buying it. And if it isn't being used to avert a terrorist attack, what, then, is their purpose? What happens to the data after it is collected? How long do authorities get to hang onto it? Who owns the data the cameras record? The police? The mall? With whom can it be shared? What is to prevent this kind of technological fishing expedition from spreading to other malls and other locations throughout the state? Where does it end?

The state Legislature needs to be out in front on this issue, crafting legislation that would severely limit the use of these devices. Currently, information and data about "innocent" motorists can be kept for five years. The Legislature should shorten that time and mandate that under no circumstances can the readers, or the information obtained from them, be used by commercial entities, as is the case in some other states.

While courts have approved license plate readers for genuine public-safety purposes, the truth is that one politician's public-safety purpose is a citizen's intrusive and unconstitutional snooping.

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Time to tighten reins on Big Brother

The Fourth Amendment to the Constitution ? the one that protects people against unreasonable searches ? already is in tatters, yet authorities continue to find ways to render it impotent.